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Friday, January 24, 2014

Wife of Knesset Speaker Edelstein Passes Away

Tatiana (Tanya) Edelstein, the wife of Knesset Speaker Yuli
Edelstein, passed away from a serious illness Thursday night at
the age of 63.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with Edelstein on
Friday morning to express his condolences, saying "I knew how much you
loved her, and I know how much you will miss her. My heart is with you in this
difficult hour."

Ms. Edelstein was an activist promoting aliyah (Jewish
immigration to Israel) and teaching Hebrew in the Soviet Union, and afterwards
in Israel, later working as an engineer at the Civil Aviation Authority.

Davidi Perl, Chair of the Gush Etzion Regional Council,
spoke about Tatiana, remarking on how she struggled for Edelstein's release
from the Soviet Union where he was held for being a Zionist 'refusenik.'

After Edelstein was released, "we merited being
neighbors in Gush Etzion," said Perl. Expressing his condolences, Perl
added "Yuli, dear friend, receive our condolences in your difficult
hour...I wish you and all the family not to know any more pain, from me and all
the residents of Gush Etzion."

The Edelsteins were married for 33 years.

The funeral will take place on Friday at 1 p.m. at the
cemetery in Kfar Etzion, located in Judea between Jerusalem and Hevron.
Transportation will be available for the public, leaving at 12 p.m. from the
Knesset in Jerusalem.

Yuli Edelstein has warned in the past that Israeli
concessions actually hurt the chances of peace, and criticized the 1993 Oslo
Accords and the 2005 “Disengagement” as being mistakes stemming from a flawed
understanding of the security situation in the region.